The classroom connectectivity gap is now closed

Ninety-nine percent of America’s schools now have high-speed broadband connections capable of providing enough bandwidth to enable their students and teachers to use technology in the classroom. 46.3 million students and 2.8 million teachers in 83,000 schools have the Internet access they need for digital learning. This success is due to the collaborative effort of governors in all 50 states along with federal policymakers, service providers and school districts. These key stakeholders came together with the common goal of increasing bandwidth to allow students to truly take advantage of the educational possibilities that come with digital learning, and the progress is already paying off. 93 percent of school districts are using digital learning in at least half of their classrooms every week and 85 percent of teachers and principals support the increased use of digital learning in their schools. More highlights from the report:

• The number of students who have access to broadband at the Federal Communications Commission’s original goal of 100kbps per student has increased from 4 million in 2013 to 46.3 million today.
• The median cost of Internet access for schools has declined from $22 per Mbps to just $2.25 since 2013.
• Since 2015, school districts have invested nearly $5 billion in K-12 Wi-Fi networks.
• 99 percent of America’s K-12 public schools have the fiber-optic connections needed to meet future connectivity needs.